2024 Toyota Camry

The driver seat cushion shield failed, the internal plastic brackets and clips broke from normal everyday use. The power seat switches are mounted to the driver seat cushion shield. Since there was no support for the cushion shield, the knobs on the switches that control the power seat would "pop off" and fall under the seat making it impossible for some drivers (especially older and/or overweight drivers) to be able to move the seat back in order to escape the vehicle in an emergency thus trapping the driver. This actually happened to me although it didn't happen during an emergency. The power seat knobs had "popped off" while I was driving and when I stopped and tried to get out, I couldn't move the seat back because there were no knobs and I was trapped for a while. I eventually wiggled myself free but if it was an emergency situation like a collision, I would have been trapped. The knobs popped off several times and I would just snap them back on but it was the flexing of the broken seat cushion shield that would push on the knobs from the inside and make them "pop off". I took my car to the dealer for warranty repair, they refused to warranty the repair because "EXTERNAL FORCE" caused the failure. When I asked what "EXTERNAL FORCE" causes the failure, the service advisor stated that JUST BY SITTING IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT CAUSES THE DRIVER SEAT CUSHION FAILURE. There is definitely a structural deficiency in their design if the failure is due to everyday normal use. Toyota has had TSB's on Tacoma and Tundra vehicles for their driver seat cushion shields cracking and they've upgraded parts to handle this problem. The problem on the Camry is potentially much more dangerous because the driver can become trapped because the power seat control knobs can pop off while driving.